Holster for hand tool

ABSTRACT

A holster for a hand tool has an annular upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth, a clip for securing the collar to an article of clothing of a user and a floor spaced below the collar. A front wall, a back wall, and a pair of side walls extend vertically between and are connected to the collar and the floor and define therewith an upwardly open tool-receiving spaced closed downwardly by the floor. One of the walls is elastically deformable and has an inwardly projecting bump engageable with a tool in the space.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a holster for a hand tool. More particularly this invention concerns such a holster particularly adapted to hold a razor-type utility knife.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A standard holster or sheath for a knife as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,825 has a pair of leaf springs that are fastened to the front and back walls of the sheath and that are convex toward each other so as to grip the blade of a knife inserted into the sheath. Thus the knife will be gripped by the sheath and will not fall readily out of the sheath.

[0003] In U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,776 another sheath is shown which is particularly adapted to fit with a knife. It has a U-shaped leaf spring with one leg that fits with a recess on the knife and another leg that serves as a clip for attaching the sheath to a boot or the like. This sheath is designed to fit with a particularly designed knife.

[0004] While both of these systems are effective for their intended purposes, neither is adaptable for use with different tools. In particular it is impossible to use either of them with a standard razor-type utility knife such as described in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,233,832 or 6,148,520. Although standard sheaths are provided for such utility knives, they invariably are not able to hold the knife securely enough to prevent it from falling out if, for instance, the sheath is inverted. Furthermore the known sheaths are typically either designed for a single knife and cannot readily accommodate another, or are made big enough for any knife, in which case the looseness problem is even worse.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0005] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved sheath or holster for a tool.

[0006] Another object is the provision of such an improved sheath or holster for a tool which overcomes the above-given disadvantages, that is which can firmly hold all types of utility knives.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] A holster for a hand tool has according to the invention an annular upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth, a clip for securing the collar to an article of clothing of a user and a floor spaced below the collar. A front wall, a back wall, and a pair of side walls extend vertically between and are connected to the collar and the floor and define therewith an upwardly open tool-receiving spaced closed downwardly by the floor. One of the walls is elastically deformable and has an inwardly projecting bump engageable with a tool in the space.

[0008] The holster according to the invention is of extremely simple construction yet can hold tools of different dimensions. The fact that at least one entire wall is formed as a leaf spring gives the holster the ability to hold tools of a wide range of thicknesses. Thus the holster can, for example, be set up for use with virtually any utility knife so that a user does not need to buy a new holster when changing utility knives.

[0009] In accordance with the invention the walls define and are separated by throughgoing slots extending vertically from the floor to the collar. In addition the one wall is the front wall so that the bump presses the tool against the back wall. More particularly according to the invention the side walls are also each formed with an inwardly directed bump and are elastically deflectable to grip a tool in the space between their bumps. The back wall may also be shaped with a bump so that it also has gripping action, although for stability purposes the back wall is normally made stiffer than the front and side walls. With several deflectable walls, the range of sizes that the holster can accommodate is increased substantially.

[0010] All the walls are unitarily formed with the collar and floor of a durable but flexible synthetic resin, e.g. polypropylene and are all of substantially the same wall thickness. The collar is provided with an outwardly projecting annular stiffening rim and the floor is generally rectangular.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0011] The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

[0012]FIGS. 1 and 2 are front and back perspective views of the holster according to the invention;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a side view of the holster;

[0014]FIG. 4 is a section taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3; and

[0015]FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views showing use of the holster in accordance with the invention.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION

[0016] As seen in FIGS. 1-4 a holster 10 according to the invention is of generally parallepipedal shape and has a normally vertical back wall 13 having a lower part 12, an upper part 16, and an inner face 14 defining a rear surface of a tool-holding space 15. A clip 17 as described in German patent document 196 49 040 filed 27 Nov. 1996 by H. Berns has upper and lower parts 18 on the upper part 16 of the back wall 13 and a separate slide part 19 that fits with them to secure the holster 10 to a belt.

[0017] At its upper end the holster has an outwardly projecting annular and generally planar stiffening rim 22 defining a mouth 23 and therebelow an annular collar 24. Projecting downward from the collar 24 toward a floor 25 are two identical side walls 26 and 28 and a front wall 27, all three formed with an inwardly projecting convex bump 29. The walls 26, 27 and 28 have upper ends 34 connected to the collar 24 and lower ends 33 that connect to the floor 25. The rear wall 13 is also formed with an inwardly projecting V-shaped bump 29 also. All parts except the clip 19 of the holster 10 are formed unitarily of a durable synthetic resin, e.g. polypropylene, that has some elasticity as will be described below. The walls 13, 26, 27, and 28 form corner slots 35 that extend all the way from an upper surface 31 of the floor 25 to a lower edge of th collar 24.

[0018] According to the invention as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 a razor knife M having a lower end 30 and a laterally open recess 32 can be pushed down in direction x through the mouth 23 into the space 15. About when its end 30 engages the upper face 31 of the floor 25, the recess 32 will be level with the bump 29 of one of the side walls 26 and 28. Thus the knife M will be gripped from side to side between the bumps 29 of the side walls 26 and 28, one of which will also fit in the recess 32 to prevent it from falling out. At the same time the bump 29 of the front wall 27 will press the knife against the front face 14 of the rear wall 13. The knife M will be firmly held, yet can still be pulled out of the sheath 10 easily in direction y. 

I claim:
 1. A holster for a hand tool, the holster comprising: an annular upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth; a clip for securing the collar to an article of clothing of a user; a floor spaced below the collar; a front wall, a back wall, and a pair of side walls extending vertically between and connected to the collar and the floor and defining therewith an upwardly open tool-receiving spaced closed downwardly by the floor, one of the walls being elastically deformable and having an inwardly projecting bump engageable with a tool in the space.
 2. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the walls define and are separated by throughgoing slots extending vertically from the floor to the collar.
 3. The tool holster defined in claim 2 wherein the one wall is the front wall, whereby the bump presses the tool against the back wall.
 4. The tool holster defined in claim 3 wherein the side walls are also each formed with an inwardly directed bump and are elastically deflectable to grip a tool in the space between their bumps.
 5. The tool holster defined in claim 4 wherein all the walls are unitarily formed with the collar and floor.
 6. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the rear wall is somewhat stiffer than the front and side walls.
 7. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the collar is provided with an outwardly projecting annular stiffening rim.
 8. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the floor is generally rectangular.
 9. A holster for a hand tool, the holster comprising: a generally rectangular annular upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth; a clip for securing the collar to an article of clothing of a user; a generally rectangular floor spaced below the collar; a front wall, a back wall, and a pair of side walls extending generally parallel to each other and vertically between and connected to the collar and the floor and defining therewith an upwardly open tool-receiving spaced closed downwardly by the floor, the walls being unitarily formed with the collar and floor, one of the walls being elastically deformable and having an inwardly projecting bump engageable with a tool in the space, the walls defining a plurality of vertically extending corner slots extending from the floor to a lower edge of the collar. 